(BBC News) North Korea has sent more soldiers to Russia and re-deployed others to the frontline in the western Kursk region, according to South Korea’s intelligence agency.
It said the exact number of extra troops sent was unknown, but military officials quoted in South Korean media have said they believed it was at least 1,000.
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have confirmed the new deployment.
North Korea is thought to have suffered heavy losses in the four months since its troops were first deployed to help Russia in its war with Ukraine.
In January, western officials told the BBC they believed at least 1,000 of the 11,000 troops sent from North Korea had been killed in the past three months. North Korea and Russia did not comment.
The South Korean intelligence agency said on Thursday that North Korean troops already in Russia had been re-deployed to the front line in Kursk at the start of February “after about a month of lull”.
Ukrainian special forces fighting in Kursk told the BBC in January that they had not seen any North Korean troops for weeks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later confirmed they had returned to the front line.
